Beneath a coffin lid
by Banan-nonne
Summary: Raven is bit by a vampire, and now as a creature of the night, she has to learn to live among the undead. That includes facing the vampires' dilemma: In order to survive she has to kill... Kinda... AU, I guess?
1. Prologue: To sleep, perchance to dream

"ARRGH!"

With a shriek Raven sat straight up in her bed, bathed in sweat. Her heart beat loudly, as if it would crash right through her ribcage any minute, and her chest was moving up and down at a worrying high pace. Terrified she looked around her sinister room, only to find that there was no one in there, but her.

_Just a dream... __**Nothing **__but a dream..._

She desperately tried to calm herself, as she felt stinging tears of shock forming under her eyelids. A rattling tearful gasp escaped her throat and with trembling hands she rubbed her temples lightly in a weak attempt to find peace. When she didn't succeed, the first tear of horror rolled down her cheek.

She almost got angry at herself for being so shocked over something as trivial as a _nightmare_. She, a half-demon born to live in the shadow of evil; the murky depths of hell, had been freaked out by a _phantasm_? And not just any phantasm, oh no, she, a half-demon had been scared out of her wits by a nightmare about a _vampire_.

Raven was overwhelmed with self-pity, confusion and anger and more diamond tears followed as she tried to suppress the images from her dream... after all, she told herself, it was nothing but a nightmare.

Though she was shaking like a leaf, and her hands barely could be kept still, the small massage of her temples eventually calmed her down. Just when her breathing was becoming steadier, fragments of images from her nightmare flooded her mind.

_Hands seizing her shoulders..._

_Nails digging into her flesh, leaving marks and bruises which burned like acid seeping through her muscles..._

_Her fruitless struggle as he, that... that __**thing**__, pinned her to the ground and her terrified cries of help._

_The needle-sharp teeth boring down into her throat, devouring her flesh, cutting through veins and tendons..._

The mage gave a small sob. She had read horror-stories about vampires that now seemed like fairytales in comparison with what her mind had just let her experience.

Now with slightly calmer breathing, but still tense she tried to suppress the images of herself lying screaming in a pool of her own blood. The vampire had caught her. He had pinned her to the ground, straddled her stomach and bit her. Like using a scissor he had bored his teeth into the upper part of her throat. He had kept his teeth there for a moment, allowing Ravens blood to flow into his mouth. Then he without lifting his teeth had ripped downwards her throat, so that her very flesh had been torn apart. He had done it slowly, letting Raven feel each inch of agony, as her ignorant heart kept pumping blood through her veins, believing it helped her survive, when it only made her death so much more painful. Her torn carotid artery was overflowing like a fountain of crimson shining blood, choking her, blinding her...

Driving her to the edge of insanity.

As the memories welled up in her Raven buried her face in her cupped hands and cried silently.

A nightmare wasn't that real. In a nightmare there was always something that made it clear it was an illusion. Like only having a white background or giving the persons involved the wrong voices. Or the fact that you rarely could smell or taste a nightmare.

Raven moved her hands from her eyes and instead clutched at her hair, biting her lip, frustrated.

The illusion had been perfect this time.

She still remembered the paralyzing, yet gentle, almost _seducing_ hands that had caught her. The way he had pulled her into his arms to stop her from struggling and trying to wriggle free and the dizziness she had felt when her head had hit the concrete floor. The smell of light perfume as the elegantly clad man straddled her stomach, gently stroked a few strands of hair away from her neck, leaned in over her, and with the sound of someone biting through a boiled potato had forced his teeth through her skin making her wail in agony. The iron-like taste of blood in her mouth as he had left her to die, choking on her own blood. And choked on it, she had.

After screaming herself insane, that is.

Raven uttered an "ugh!" as she recalled how she had rolled over to the right, letting the blood form a red pillow under her right cheek. Her right eye had been able see nothing but darkness and shiny red. Her lashes had been filled with the sticky cream-like substance. And then out of the corner of her left eye, his malicious smile as he had slowly retracted to the shadows, turning the light off, leaving her to die, drowning in a sea of her own blood, alone in the darkness, where no one heard her screams of agony or her cries of help...

With an angry, tearful gasp Raven shook her head, the tears spilling from her face, dripping all over her.

_It was just a nightmare... a very life-like nightmare, but only a night__mare nonetheless._

Raven whispered this to herself a few times and then closed her eyes. She folded her legs so she sat cross-legged and was silent for a while, hearing only the soft night breeze, coming from her half opened windows, and her own beating heart. When the silence had filled her and she had managed to suppress the nightmare a little, she heaved a sigh before running her fingers through her dark violet hair. Her cold sweat evaporated eventually, and along with the gentle breeze, it cooled her down. The areas around her neck and throat still felt warm though, but Raven assumed it was because it was where she had felt the most "pain". Forcing a nervous laugh at the absurdity of it all, she ran her fingers through her hair one more time and then down the sides of her neck, down her shoulders.

Or – she would have, but on the right side of her neck, closest to her chin, her fingers touched something... sticky. Raven froze. As in slow-motion she brought her right hand down in her lap and looked at it with eyes wide with anxiety. A scream got stuck in her throat like she had taken a big bite of an apple and attempted to swallow it whole, without chewing it first. Her right hand was covered in blood.

Her blood.


	2. Chapter 1: The wooden stake

Wheee!!! It's snowing :D In DK! It's actually snowing in DK!!! Woohoooo!!!

First of all: Thank you so much for those of you who read and reviewed and put my story on alert. I appreciate that.

I hope you enjoy next chapter of Beneath a Coffin lid. Where stuff happens :3 ... it's not just Raven being all angsty and shiz like that over a nightmare.

And with that, I introduce the 5 pages long chapter 1:

**1: The wooden stake **

In those first few seconds after her discovery, the only thing Raven thought about was to get away. Away from the blood pool forming on the mattress beneath her, away from the blood staining her hand, gathering in small clots under her nails... She was so desperate she even wanted to desert her own body, just to get away from the lukewarm blanket the blood covered her with. The mage shivered in disgust and tears mixed with the blood flowing down her neck, adding to the sticky effect.

Unlike what some people may think, with Raven being both an international crime-fighter _and_ the child of a sadistic demon, she wasn't used to the sight of blood. She had hardly ever seen blood before in her life. And she had never seen it in this amount, smeared all over her body after having a nightmare about vampires. The moonlight fell on her small frame, bathing her in a ghostly glow, almost making the dark red stains on her bed cloth seem greenish silver, like fish scales.

First Raven's brain tried to come up with a logical reason to where all this blood came from (there surely couldn't be this much blood inside _one _person) and she came to the conclusion that she had scratched herself. After all, when was the last time she had cut her nails?

With a frantic smile on her lips, panting heavily the sorceress nodded, tears still streaming from her eyes. _Yes, she had scratched herself. Of course that was it..._

Suddenly Raven's eye registered a movement in the shadows outside the window. She froze. Her breathing stopped. Instantly the room became dead silent. Not even the wind outside could be heard now. As ice-cold fear snaked slowly through her veins and up her spine, Raven got silently up from the bed and waited until she was sure the movement was no longer. With her heart stuck in her throat she grabbed the handle to the window. Beads of sweat rolled down her back as she pressed the handle down. But she had to find out. She just had to...

Slightly panting she pushed open the window and gasped slightly as cold, clean night air blew against her face. It was nice and refreshing. She closed her eyes silently.

Silence.

She opened them again, looking first to the right and then to the left. Nothing but stars and cobalt night skies as far as the eye could see.

Silence.

Raven allowed herself to smile, and sighed peacefully. Now all she had to do was to heal her wound and get rid of all the blood and then she would be able to go back to bed...

"Look up." a boy's voice sounded from above her head.

_Silence._

Raven's blood instantly ran cold in her veins, turning her blood-stream into a river of ice. Silently, silently she turned her head so much that she could look up over her shoulder. And there, on the cornice above her, almost like a gargoyle sat a boy a few years older than her, a pair of grey-brown bat-wings emitting from his shoulder blades. He bared his fangs in a malicious smile. They were covered in blood. - Raven's blood.

"Looking for me?" he asked innocently and cocked his head to one side, making small drops of Raven's blood trickle down his chin from the corner of his mouth.

She screamed.

With a battle cry he jumped her and they stumbled backwards into her room, landing on the floor, Raven underneath. She was quick to shoot him off her with an explosion of her black magic and the creature was slung across the room, slammed into the wall and then fell to the floor, landing face down.

Heavily panting Raven got on all four.

"_That should take him out," _she thought, still shocked, _"a vampire..."_

A low chuckle from beside her bed got Raven to turn her head. The vampire was getting on all four just like herself, except he didn't have a scratch, as if Raven's attack never had got to him at all. Raven's eye widened. She was covered in blood and bruises, but the vampire hadn't even broken a sweat yet.

"Your magic doesn't work on me, little girl..." he smirked.

Raven got ready to shoot another black beam at him but before she even got to blink he was over her, causing Raven to shriek in surprise. He straddled her stomach, his knees on either side of her chest. The terrified girl beneath him screamed and kicked but he merely grabbed her wrists and nailed her to the floor, a knowing smile on his face. She looked up at him with fear her eyes shining with tears, pleading for him not to... He smiled triumphantly and leaned down over her bared throat.

"Relax," he coaxed hypnotically against her blood-spattered skin, "It's just two small pricks... lie still and we might even- AUGH!"

"_**Get off me!!!"**_

Raven had managed to wriggle one of her arms free of his grip and her fist collided with his pale face, cutting him off. He was thrown off her and resting on her elbows, Raven watched as he rolled on to his back, groaning. She smirked triumphantly. This time it wasn't only her blood that adorned his lower lip.

"Stupid wench!" he hissed, his hands immediately coming up to cover his face.

A flock of endorphins rushed to her brain, and she gave a "HA!" in victory, although to him it probably just sounded like a rattling gasp.

In the time he was on his back out of action, Raven briefly went through her knowledge about vampires. Apparently her magic had no greater impact on him so she had to rely on what she had read about vampires instead. He had to bite her three times before turning her into a vampire, which meant she had two bites left.

_How did you kill a vampire?_

Raven vaguely remembered something about garlic, but there was no way she was leaving that monster's side to go search for a strange vegetable they maybe didn't even have in the kitchen.

Sunlight?

_Yeah riiiiiiight... sunlight at 1 a.m._

A stake through the heart... Raven was brought back to reality as the vampire sat up groaning, shaking his head slowly. In a matter of seconds he would throw himself upon her and bore his razor-sharp teeth down into her throat...

The mage clenched her fists.

_Oh, _hell_ no._

Even before her brain had sent the message to her legs, she was on her feet, and in those few seconds the vampire was still recoiling, she shot up from the floor and snatched a pair of scissors from her desk. Shouting she threw herself upon him with a menacing look in her eyes, the point of the scissor bared and ready for attack. The vampire's eyes widened and he rolled aside seconds before the pair of scissors would have pierced his heart. Now instead of his chest, Raven speared the carpet. Before she even got to blink, his foot met with her back bone, all his fury being laid into that one kick, making her do a forward roll, landing hard on her back with a groan, and once again he straddled her stomach.

His green eyes met with her lavender and gave her a silent threat of a very painful death – If she was so lucky that he would stop at simply killing her. He had her wrists in an iron grip and before she got any more fancy ideas he plunged his fangs into her throat. Raven moaned in agony and burning tears ran from eyes closed tightly as the warm liquid trickled down her neck with renewed force. That seemed to calm the vampire down upon seeing the red blood flowing freely and he loosened his grip on her slightly. Raven's eyes shot open at this and with newfound strength she screamed her mantra and slung him away from her in an explosion of blackness.

Staring up into the ceiling for a few instants Raven panted. That attack had cost her a lot of valuable energy, but hopefully it would affect him a little more than her first attempt. She heard the beast's moans from across the room and slowly, a bit swaying she got to her feet. Through half-closed eyes she saw the beast get to his feet sitting in a crouching position, staring ominously (and surprised) at her. She saw his lips move and heard an indistinct shout. He jumped towards her, and in a weak attempt to protect herself just one last time she positioned the pair of scissors in front of her chest pointing outwards from her, his teeth inches from her throat. He seized her upper arms and she felt the tip of his needle-sharp fangs stroke against the material on her shoulder. She closed her eyes and prepared herself for what she knew was inevitably coming next...

"_Thwack!!!"_

The vampire uttered something between a rattling groan and a surprised gasp and she registered the pressure of his teeth _in _her shoulder disappear. Strange... why was her chest suddenly so warm? It felt as if someone was pouring tea down her uniform... Was she still bleeding that much?

Raven's eyes shot open. Breathless she stared down herself, not fully understanding what had just happened. The pair of scissors was no longer clutched tightly in her bloody hands. With eyes wide with surprise she looked at the vampire who simply stared incredulously back at her. His breath was coming in small jagged huffs and his emerald eyes flickered insanely around like a wild animal caught in a hunter's trap. Then she saw it. Sticking out from his chest, the place where his heart was supposed to be, was a normally silver-shining pair of scissors. Now they were nothing but shiny scarlet. Her eyes instantly widened even more and her jaw dropped.

For a minute they both stood panting heavily exhausted from their fight, simply staring at the pair of scissors sitting in his chest. Then Raven looked up again and saw that this time the vampire was smiling maliciously at her, a low chuckling coming from his throat.

"Well, you've got guts I'll give you that..." hoarse rattling sounds (the monster's laughter, Raven assumed) came from his throat, and blood was now running from his mouth.

The sorceress gave a little shriek and took a step back. Why wasn't he dead?! Her mouth opened and closed alternately since she kept stumbling over her own words.

He chuckled again and with a slow, sickening wet noise he grabbed the handle of the pair of scissors and started pulling out. Raven looked away in disgust as the scissor was removed and new blood spurted from his chest. Out over her. She forced back the want to throw up. There couldn't be this much blood inside _one _person. There just _couldn't_...

On the edge of a nervous breakdown she looked at him, fearing for what he'd do now, but the boy merely held up the blood-soaked pair of scissors in front of him, waving it a little from side to side as if he was trying to hypnotize both himself and Raven.

"But y'know these things have to be made of _wood_..." his voice was so laced with malice Raven could almost _feel_ it in the air.

"And you know what the best thing is?" his eyes flashed devilishly. He laughed again, and this time blood spluttered out over Raven when he burst into a coughing fit. As if nothing had happened he reached out his free hand to touch her shoulder. Raven shied from his hand with a gasp, but his fingers still trailed lightly over the fresh bite-marks, making Raven hiss in pain. His fingers glided lightly over the torn material on her uniform, along with the fresh scratches his fangs had left on her. - Poking at her nerve endings.

When the worst waves of that itching, stinging feeling had vanished Raven opened her eyes – which had been squeezed shot in ache – and looked at him with big eyes.

Was he saying that he...

"No..." she whispered, her voice trailing off.

He had succeeded. Now she was a...

_Oh god..._

His psychopathic smile turned even wider for a little while and he looked down at himself again. With surprise in his eyes he watched as blood flowed from the nasty wound the scissors had left on him. He hadn't expected _that_ to happen. Raven could do nothing but merely stand and stare at him.

_Oh god. Ohgodohgodohgod..._

He looked up again and though he was still smiling, cold fury now shone in his eyes.

"Ugh..." he snorted annoyed, "Why did you _do that_? Now I can't take you with me..."

Raven clenched her fists and bared her teeth in an animalistic growl.

"And what exactly makes you think I want to go with you?"

He stared surprised at the sorceress at hearing her use more than three words in a row on him. So she could talk after all... Her comment was met with another snicker.

"I'd like to see you survive without me..." his eyes flashed with a spark of revelation, "but I guess you'll just have to-"

Another coughing fit. Raven noticed how his figure almost seemed to shrink before her very eyes. Just because that stab to his heart hadn't killed him, didn't mean that it wasn't serious.

"_Ha!"_ Raven thought mockingly, too weakened to say much, _"you can't even take care of yourself..."_

"And I'll be back to pick up what's left of you as soon as I've handled _this little problem..._" again he held up the pair of scissors in front of their faces and dangled it forth and back like a pendulum. Raven clenched her fists harder and set her teeth.

"I will never-" Raven froze. A sudden pain starting somewhere in her chest spread out through her arms and down through her stomach. For a minute she actually thought she forgot how to breathe. "- ngh... never..."

Slowly Raven sank to her knees as she felt all strength being drained from her body. She kept staring up at the vampire, not losing his gaze for one second, even when she fell to the floor, landing on her side.

"Ye-es?" he asked smugly his green eyes glinting mischievously as he stared down at her. By the look on his face it would seem that the scene taking place before him was taking place according to plan.

A wave of darkness washed through her skull, turning her vision black for several seconds. Convulsions washed over her body and her wounds started bleeding again. In heart-clenching panic Raven felt the warm liquid flow from her neck and shoulder, forming a red pillow under her head, just like in her nightmare. She coughed manically and tasted the metallic taste of blood in her mouth.

"_I'm having a seizure,"_ she though panicking. _"Oh god somebody call an ambulance, I'm having a seizure..."_

The demonic being knelt down beside her and almost lovingly stroke away a few strands of purple hair that stuck to her forehead, sticky because of the blood. Raven set her teeth.

If... only... she could... nghg... _move..._

"We'll call this a draw then I guess?"

Not being able to do much more, Raven uttered a growling sound and shot him a look of pure hatred. She wanted to keep staring him down - or, _up_ actually - but soon the blackouts became so frequent that she started counting the small moments when she was conscious instead.

The vampire smiled and got up. He was panting heavily and completely covered in blood, but he was satisfied.

The boy waited until the girl beside him stopped shaking in cramps and the spark in her glare died. Her lips were frozen in a scream and the look in her amethyst orbs was frantic and panicking. If only she hadn't stabbed him he would have been able to fly away with her but now... His eyes glistened maliciously in the blackness of the night. He was sure that tomorrow when the first sunbeams hit her, she would regret what she had done. When she almost attacked her friends she would be so sorry... He almost wished he could stay and watch the battle of her self-control vs. the vampire soul in her unfold, but his wound needed care. Staggering a bit he walked over to the window and flew soundlessly (besides a few groans of exhaustion and pain) through the night.

_T__hat little witch would soon regret that she had stabbed him._ _That much he knew._

He snickered darkly to himself.

He just hoped that it would be _her_ and not a pile of dust he would find when returning in a few days...

* * *

And now you're all probably:

"WTF?! She screamed, slammed him into a fecking **wall**, _and_ the floor and still _none _of the other Titans woke up?! What's up with that?!"

Well I didn't bother... is that a bad thing? Semi-bad? Wasn't a problem until I mentioned it?

I debated a lot with myself whether Raven was OOC in this chapter, I mean, she doesn't talk very much and she practically goes all "GAH! KILL! **KILL!!**" and jumps the poor guy with a pair of scissors. I hope I gave good enough reasons for her to do that, and if not, you know what to do...

And what about the whole "I survived at stab to the heart 'cause the damn thing wasn't made of wood. PWN!"? Is that just _too_ stupid?

OH! OH! And if anyone have the time and want to proofread my chapters, I'll be forever thankful. Just PM me if you're interested...

Now I will go play in the snow. Because it's snowing... (!!!) Bwahahah did I mention it was snowing:D -glomps snow-

Thank you for taking the time to read my story! Hope you enjoyed it!


	3. Chapter 2: Toast and chocolatesauce

Hey. I'm sorry for taking so long but I found this chapter extremely difficult to write, and I don't know what you'll think about it. Feedback please!

Thanks to those of you who read, reviewed, put on alert and -wow!- faved. Also a HUGE "Thank you!" to Dr. Numa Numa, who proof-read this chapter and corrected all my silly mistakes. Thank you so much:D

And thanks to Fall Out Boy, for making the CD "Infinity on High" which I listened to while writing this. It helped me concentrate.

And now, to the fill- err, chapter. (What a silly title. :3)

**2: Toast and chocolate-sauce**

_**I**_

She did not wake up abruptly like last time. What had happened was no nightmare. It was reality at its most cruel point. And therefore, she did not wake up from it like it was a simple nightmare. She slowly regained what you would technically call consciousness, but kept lying on the floor without moving as if she was completely lifeless.

Raven was in unbelievably clear contact with her emotions and soul. A lot of people thought or, in Beast Boy's case, accused her of having no feelings, much to Raven's annoyance. The truth was that she was so well familiarized with her emotions that she had the power strong enough to simply block them out of her mind. But they were still inside her, and she knew perfectly well they were inside her, how every little detail of her mind worked.

Raven screwed her eyes shut, only to find that they were already as closed as they could be.

The mage meditated every day and was not exactly unfamiliar with the idea of transmigration of the soul. And as she lay there on the floor, the right side of her face glued to the floor in a mess of blood, the normally silken violet mane of hair matted together by said ruby-red fluid. That small presence of mind she was able to gather assumed that right now, in that very moment, a part of her soul was outside her body, and possibly very far away...

What else could be the reason all pain felt so strangely dull? Instead of a hard floor, it felt as is she was lying on a quilt. The silence of the room was ringing through the small space like a church bell. The sound was oddly indistinct, like everything was completely wrapped in wadding.

The mage gave a small groan and moved slightly, the helmet of blood-stained hair moving faintly around her head as she did so.

"Where... where am I?" she whispered hoarsely to no one in particular, her eyes still lightly closed. In the back of her mind Raven knew fully well that she was lying on the floor in her room, but it still seemed unreal. _All of her_ was not present in that room. She closed her eyes harder. Maybe, if she closed them hard enough all this would turn out to be a dream. Or a nightmare.

"He bit me, didn't he?"

Through all the wadding and numbness, Raven felt her head throbbing, like someone was pounding on it with a sledgehammer. Absentmindedly, the mage registered a stinging pain in her hand, but was too tired to move or even bother with it.

For a long while she just laid there, not moving, breathing slowly. She sighed somewhat peacefully, taking a deep breath. The air was thick with the stench of blood, but that did not really alarm Raven – even when she could feel the entire right side of her face being completely smeared with her own blood, she could not really find the energy to get freaked out. The only thing she noted herself, and "noted herself" was not worth much in her current state, was a faint smell of _burned flesh..._

The pain in her hand instantly became much more distinct and Raven grimaced. Her hand felt as if someone was stepping on it, pressing down on the back of it, and then grinding against it with the sole of their shoe, careless if they accidentally tore of some skin in the process.

Raven felt the sun caress her hair and skin as if it was comforting her and relaxed a bit. The sunlight felt warm against her skin. Once again the throbbing pain in her head seemed to drown in the wadding around her, although the sound of someone wailing could still be heard clearly. She tried to cling on to the speculations about who could be wailing but it was impossible to hold her mind in place. She only felt the sun's heat.

Which got warmer.

And warmer.

And it wasn't until later (entire ten seconds to be exact) when Raven heard an odd sizzling sound that she realized exactly _where_ that pulsating pain in her hand _and_the smell of burned flesh came from…

The wailing turned into a scream, which Raven realized came from her throat as she shot up from the floor and away from the burning sunlight.

"There is no way to kill a vampire. Only by a stake through the heart or sunlight…" 

Pressed up against a wall, in the darkest corner of her room, safely out of the sunlight's reach, Raven looked at her hand. She uttered something between a sharp gasp and a hoarse cough in surprise. Her nails were a dark shade of brown, almost black, and smelled like burned popcorn. The skin on the back of her hand was white and dead, and big blisters were starting to form, covering her knuckles. On the back of her hand, closest to her wrist, the upper layer of skin was burned away, revealing a new layer of pink skin, which the sunbeams already had started to devour greedily as well.

Panting heavily Raven quickly whispered her mantra and after being surrounded in a blue-black glow for a few minutes, the pain in her hand and head was gone, and the burned-off skin and blisters were replaced with a new layer of grey, fair skin. She sighed peacefully, if that was possible in her current condition, and leaned the back of her head against the wall.

She looked around her room. Her bed sheets were wrinkled and stiff with dried-up blood, and on the floor a pair of scissors laid, also covered in rust-red flakes. Raven gave a long and slow groan and covered her eyes with one hand.

"Yeah he did."

With a low mutter of her mantra, she pulled the curtains together to shut out daylight and remain alive. Again she looked at her hand, just to be perfectly sure it was okay and without burns. She did not smile, but her frown neutralized when she saw the fair, smooth skin and the beautiful white nails on her right hand. Raven normally did not care for how she or others looked, but an odd kind of happiness filled her at the sight of her – dare she think the word – _perfect_ hand. Abruptly Raven shook her head and hid her hand under her cloak. Still shuddering slightly, she got up from the floor. She had not just thought that she was "perfect" had she? Complacency surely was not her. Something was wrong.

She looked at herself in a small mirror that was hanging on her wall. The mage didn't smile, nor did she frown – because that was simply not in her nature – but she actually felt her heart sinking when she discovered that her reflection was nothing but a blurry silhouette, instead of the usual clear image of herself. The purple-haired girl gently lifted her hand up to touch the mirror lightly. So did a shadow from inside the mirror, but it was not her reflection. This, this _ghost _without a face on the other side of the glassy surface, was _not_ her.

She looked up and a bit to the side, so that her neck was revealed, and the shadow inside the mirror did the same. A little under her chin was two small spots. In the mirror they looked almost like ink blots. But when Raven ran her fingers over them she felt a thin crust of a wound, the same went for her shoulder and further down her neck where his teeth had also been. Again Raven stroked her shoulder to feel the fragile scab, but this time she made the stroking slower, bewitched by the softness of her skin. In the back of her mind, Raven knew how absolutely wrong this was. She was not one to stand and admire herself in a mirror for hours on end, or think to herself how beautiful she thought she was. And right now, covered in blood, was an _odd_ time to think high thoughts about oneself. But it was as if she herself in an entirely new way...

She was brought out of her vanity by a loud knocking on her door. "Raaaven? It's almost over breakfast! Aren't you gonna come?"

Beast Boy.

Panicking Raven looked at the door and then around her room. Blood everywhere. Her bed, the floor, the pair of scissors...

Blocking out Beast Boy's chatter, she closed her eyes and a few moments later, black waves had cleaned her room (including herself) of all blood.

Beast Boy knocked again.

"Raaaaaven?"

She winced at him calling her name. But she did not want to alarm him, so she quickly went and opened the door.

"What?" she asked coldly, her disapproval radiating of her like waves. It wasn't so much disapproval of him, but the time he had chosen to visit her.

"Aren't you gonna have some breakfast? I've made you herbal tea..." smiling, he ignored the daggers she was glaring at him and held up a steaming kettle, dangling it front of her like a pendulum...

_Or a pair of scissors..._

Raven shuddered and looked away at the memory of last night. Beast Boy's eyes widened with worry.

"What's the matter? You don't want herbal tea? I can throw it out if..." quickly he hid the kettle behind his back, trying to ignore its existence.

"No, no Beast Boy I'm fine," she assured him weakly, "Thank you for making tea, I'll be there in a minute."

Beast Boy raised an eyebrow. Raven normally didn't talk like that. It was as if her voice had become softer, more emotional. And Raven didn't say "Thank you". Not without the usual cold only-fitting-for-a-statue attitude, that is. But what really alarmed Beast Boy was that before closing her door, Raven sent him a weak smile, meant to calm him down.

It did quite the opposite.

Except for the small cup of tea in the kitchen, Raven barely left her room all day. Swathed in darkness (she had magically blocked out all sun), she sat on her bed and meditated, trying to get her mind under control.

Vanity, hypersensitivity to light...

And throughout the day, Raven felt herself... getting hungry. She did not eat less than usual, and she even helped herself to _two _extra slices of pizza that dinner, much to her team-mates' surprise. But still, when she went to bed that night, she almost could not find peace because of her growling stomach.

_**II**_

It all resulted in her waking up on the second day, feeling extremely moody. She did not even bother saying 'no' to joining Starfire in a 'journey to the mall of shopping' before slamming the door in the Tamaranian princess' face, leaving the alien to walk away confused, and also a bit hurt.

Still with the curtains preventing the daylight from killing her, Raven went back to meditating, hoping that she would be able to somehow block out her hunger and hopefully her team-mates wouldn't disturb her. She felt _extremely _sensitive at the time being.

"Raven! You have to come see this! It's momentous! The Tin Can finally lost!!"

Beast Boy's voice cut through her mind like a lit blowtorch cuts through iron. He always managed to show up when she least wanted him to. The blue-clad mage clenched her hands hard.

That little... _She_ was the daughter of evil itself. _He _was merely a little green whatever-he-was. He wasn't even worthy of _looking_ at her.

A sudden powerful anger welled up in her and for a minute the thought of putting her hands around the little grass stain's neck and twisting it until it snapped, actually seemed pleasing.

The sorceress clenched her hands even harder – and with a hiss of pain unclenched them again. She stared at her palms. From newly made wounds small droplets of blood trickled down her hand, to land on the clean mattress. – Or, it had been clean until recently. She bent her fingers softly, so nut to cut herself again. Since she had healed her burned hand yesterday, her nails had apparently started growing. They were now almost twice as long as they had been the day before, very strong and most importantly: razor-sharp.

Just like the day before Beast Boy's knock brought her back to the real world.

"Raven! Come on, Cyborg finally lost! We're having vegan toast for breakfast! Aren't you gonna come and celebrate?!"

Raven shook her head. She hadn't just thought of... _killing _Beast Boy, had she? Sure, he was annoying at times but...

Raven gulped and answered meekly: "Just a minute Beast Boy."

On the other side of the closed door, the changeling raised an eyebrow. Again that soft, emotional voice... like she was embarrassed or maybe even apologizing. Normally the mage would open the door when he was least expecting it, her hood up and covering her face, the only sign of life beneath that hood, being a pair of stone-hard amethyst orbs.

"_What?"_ she would demand snappily, before turning him down in a monotone voice and then close the door in his face before he even got to protest. She wouldn't say _"just a minute Beast Boy" _and then rush around like she was hiding something...

He shook it off and decided with himself that it was probably nothing, before he went out to make the momentous toast. That was, after all the reason he had disturbed Raven in the first place.

A few moments later, completely covered by her blue cloak _and_ a black scarf, Raven entered the living room. Starfire had already had breakfast and set off to the mall which left Raven alone in the living room with the three male Titans.

"Hey Raven. Good to see ya out of your room," Cyborg noted grumpily with his attention turned towards Beast Boy who was messing around in the kitchen, preparing for the anti-meat breakfast.

"'Morning Cyborg, Robin," Raven quickly acknowledged, her voice muffled by the black scarf.

"'Morning Rae..." Robin mumbled absentminded from behind a newspaper. None of them even noticed the scarf.

Raven walked over to the kitchen counter, past Beast Boy who was now cutting bread into thin slices. A cup of herbal tea should do the trick with her – to put it mildly – odd feelings. And maybe it would even, along with a slice of Beast Boy's 'vegan toast', cure her hunger. After pouring boiled water into a cup with tea leaves, Raven held the steaming cup up to her face. She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. The hot steams made it a little harder to breathe, but not so much that it was unpleasant. Like holding a small rabbit close to her chest, putting a light pressure on it, but not enough to suffocate her or make her feel uncomfortable. She sighed peacefully. For a moment all that had happened since two nights ago seemed so far away and without importance. The sorceress smiled, enjoying these few minutes of tranquillity...

"WAAAAHHH!"

The cup in her hands splintered, hot water spilling out everywhere. Black smoke sizzled from the sad remains at her feet while she stared angrily at Beast Boy, for it was him who had screamed, ruining her _one_ silent moment. Beast Boy completely ignored the iron stare and jumped up in front of her, holding his hand up in front of her face.

"Raven, please quick, heal me!" he looked away and shielded his eyes with his other hand. "I cut myself on the knife. Am I bleeding?"

There was silence between them for a minute. Then Beast Boy removed his hand from his eyes. "What?"

"Beast Boy, you're wearing _a glove..._"

"Oh." he smiled sheepishly and pulled of his grey glove, which had a hole in it after the knife. Then he went back to wailing and complaining about his 'injury'. In the meantime Raven stared at his hand. Beast Boy had cut himself - Nothing big, just a little scratch. But as Raven took his hand in hers she noticed the small drops that were rolling down the palm of his hand. Inside Raven's mind something clicked. The thin ruby-red liquid awakened a strong desire within her.

A desire to eat.

A desire to _kill_.

Forgetting the world around her, Raven trailed her slender fingers over his wound. She drew a little blood from his hand, staring at her blood-stained fingers as if they were jewels. Without noticing it, she gripped tighter around Beast Boy's wrist, making sure he -and his arteries - stayed where they were... her lips parted in a childish smile. Who needed herbal tea when you could have blood instead...?

Beast Boy winced when the sorceress tightened her grip on him. Slowly he removed his free hand from his eyes and looked puzzled at her. Raven however, was not looking at him. The only thing she seemed to be focusing on at the moment was his wound, or rather what was coming from it.

A thin, thin string of blood connected his palm and Raven's finger. The mage was staring hungrily at his green hand as if she might bite down on it any moment and try to...

_Eat him or something..._

"Raven?" he asked confused, as if trying to wake her up.

And wake her up he did. With a gasp she looked at him, her eyes full of fear as if he was a ghost coming to haunt her. She immediately let go of his hand, breaking the small crimson string, and pulled away from him. Small blue sparks danced across his palm, leaving his skin new and fresh as Raven rushed out of the living room, also earning glances from both Cyborg and Robin who had watched the little escapade.

Beast Boy blinked and stared at the door where a quick flash of her blue cape was seen as the door slammed shut behind her.

"Umm... thanks." He said out into the air and resumed making toast, ignoring the two floored boys on the couch behind him.

Emotional, barely leaving her room, now _this_ and…

"_Hold on..." _he thought to himself, not voicing his concern out loud,_ "wasn't her nails longer than usual?"_

Raven sat heavily down on her usual spot in the darkest corner of her room and buried her face in her hands.

"_What's happening to me?!" _she thought frantic with terror, _"I'm turning into a monster!"_

She took a few deep breaths, insisting on not to start crying, but a lonely tear still rolled down her cheek. The mage shook her head violently, utterly confused. If it wasn't for that cursed famine gnawing away at her insides, she could probably gather enough presence of mind to figure something out...

Raven froze when a small scent reached her nostrils. There was still a little of Beast Boy's blood on her hands...

"_Oh no," _she warned herself silently, _"Don't you even think about..."_

Almost mechanically she looked at her hand. Yes, there, at the tip of her index finger, was a small, microscopic actually, stain of blood. Raven swallowed the spit that had been gathered in her mouth. This metallic scent did not seem so disgusting once you got used to it. And since everything else seemed to have no effect on her hunger...

The mage's stomach growled again as to emphasize her forbidden thoughts. She forced herself to look away from the tempting red liquid on her finger. Drinking blood was bad enough. Drinking human blood was even worse. Drinking _Beast Boy's _blood was downright unforgivable.

Raven squeezed her eyes shut, clenched her jaw to the point where her head began to ache, flexed in her entire body...

'_I won't do it; I won't do it, I-simply-won't-do-it!'_

...and took her finger into her mouth.

Instantly, a heavenly warmth spread throughout her body. Raven closed her eyes in silent bliss. What little she could taste of the blood on her fingers, did not taste like blood. More like …

Chocolate sauce?

Raven abruptly pulled the finger out of her mouth.

_Chocolate-sauce…_ That damn thing tasted like chocolate-sauce.

A lamp nearby exploded in a black glimpse and Raven covered her head.

"I'm drinking blood," she sobbed frantically, her eyes wide open and filled with tears. She had never felt so heartbroken before. Surely she was going insane. Who would drink blood and then think it tasted like some delicious treat to put on your sundae-ice cream? Not even vampires could be getting that mental image!

Frustrated, sad and all in all just overwhelmed by her miserable situation, the mage weakly dragged herself over to the bed. She lay on her side, the tears wetting her pillow but she didn't really care. Her gaze full of sorrow she looked at the window where a screen of black magic was shielding her from the daylight. For a minute the sorceress found herself hoping that _he_, the vampire that had done all this to her, would come tonight. To take her away, to protect her, to comfort her, to help her, to beat the life out of her again.

Or maybe show himself "from a nicer side" and simply just kill her. Anything to end this madness…

She rested in the quietness of the room, the only audible sound being her sobbing, until merciful sleep overtook her exhausted mind.

* * *

An OOC-soon-to-be-vampire Raven... poor her.

Please, tell me what you thought of this and if you think something needs to be redone, or maybe just reconsidered.

By the way happy new year, and (late) merry christmas. I hope you all had a great time!

I'm outtie!


	4. Chapter 3: Zombie

OH MAI GAAWD! It's an update! Ö

Let's just get to the chapter, while I still have some readers left.

Thanks to those of you who read, reviewed and/or added my story to their story-alert lists. An especially big thanks to Dr. Numa Numa, my beta. Thank you so much!! You guys are the best!

And as some of you maybe can guess from the title, I've been listening to The Cranberries. ;p It's a damn good song. And I think it fits Raven's situation.

Anyway, let's rock:

**3: Zombie**

_J__ump City at 6 in the morning. Not really day, and not really night. – The city is still asleep, yet widely awake. The sun is slowly beginning to rise, and there are still a couple of stars left in the sky. The traffic, which is normally a fearsome roar, is now nothing but a blurred whisper. Not many people walk the streets, and those who do are no more but black silhouettes in the twilight. - These are only small signs of life, but signs of life nonetheless. The town is not dead and the people who live in it are not alone. And they believe this, as long as there is always a little sign of life: traffic noise, voices, lights……_

_But in a dark room__, in which the windows are heavily concealed, in a T-shaped tower, on an aside island, all these signs of life from the city go by, unnoticed…_

* * *

"He's been here," she whispered hoarsely. 

The mage reached out for the dark curtain created by her magic. With long, slender fingers she briefly touched the black screen covering her window, preventing the sunlight from killing her. It was the same kind of shield she used to prevent both herself and her friends from getting killed by loose bullets and devastating blows from enemies.

There was a very simple reason why she had chosen this particular kind of magic protection. Nothing could get through it_. Nothing_.

An invisible thread tightened around her throat. In the –supposed- impassable field of blackness a set of fine chinks allowed microscopic rays of sunlight to shine through. The holes were oblong and frayed at the edge.

_Claw marks._

Raven tried to swallow something and silently pulled her hand back. Someone had been trying to get in while she had been sleeping. She had a very good guess to who it could be.

Her hood was up and covering her face, hiding her emotions away from the world. Underneath it she bit her lip.

That spell was impenetrable to anything - Or so she had thought. The fact that there were claw marks could mean only two things: just to create a hole big enough so that a needle could slide through, incredible strength was needed.

_So either the enemy she was up aga__inst was unbelievably powerful…_

The mage clenched her teeth. From inside the shadows of her cowl a crystal tear glinted as it rolled down her cheek.

… _Or her powers were slowly disappearing._

* * *

"Guys, I'm telling you. There's something really weird about Raven." 

Beast Boy was standing in the living room where all of the Teen Titans minus Raven were gathered. Cyborg, who lay stretched out on the couch, looked drowsily up at his green friend.

"What do you mean?" he asked grumpily, before lying down again, trying to continue his nap.

"What do you mean 'what do I mean'?!" Beast Boy practically yelled at the top of his lungs, gesturing wildly with his arms. "She's acting like a total nutcase!"

"Beast Boy, I agree with you that Raven is acting a little... odd, but I am sure that she is simply tired from all of our heroic doing," Starfire timidly added from behind him, " It has after all been a long time since she had 'a little piece of the quiet' to lie down."

"Starfire, that's called 'a little peace _and_ quiet'," Beast Boy mumbled and put a hand to his forehead in defeat, before he spoke louder: "Look, Raven wouldn't act the way she did just because she's stressed out. Robin, help me out here!"

The shape-shifter looked accusingly at Robin, giving the masked boy an urgent request to say something. Until then Robin had stood in silence by the Tamaranean princess, sending all three of them examining gazes by turn.

"Beast Boy, it's not the first time Raven's been staying in her room for a couple of days," the leader of the Titans explained. "Why are you so upset?"

Robin's answer clearly had the changeling taken aback. For a few minutes he simply stared at his teammates in disbelief. Then with a voice that was slightly cracking he said:

"Robin, didn't you see how she acted yesterday? She was about to eat my hand!"

Robin opened his mouth to give a snappy reply, but fell silent as he didn't really know what to answer. The living room was quiet for a minute, the only sounds being Beast Boy's offended huffs and Starfire's failed attempts to say something to ease the atmosphere.

"Aw come on, BB give it a rest. Remember that time with Dr. Light? We caused some serious trouble just by interfering," said a tired Cyborg from the couch.

"Oh, and I suppose that was _my _fault?" Beast Boy clenched his hands.

"Well... actually..." Robin began, rubbing the back of his head, clearly uncomfortable by the angry Titan's question. "You were the one who wanted to find out..."

He never finished his sentence, since Beast Boy brushed him off with an offended snarl.

"Fine! If no one cares what's happening to her, I guess it's up to _me_ to help her!"

"How _dare_ you say we don't care?" Robin shouted and stormed over to Beast Boy as if to attack him. Beast Boy got in to a low battle stance, ready to take anything his leader might throw at him.

Starfire's eyes widened and she reached out for Robin in sheer reflex. For a minute she thought Robin was actually going to hit Beast Boy. Fortunately the two just stood for a while, staring each other down, snarling and growling.

The room again fell silent. Starfire looked away from the two hotheads and bit her lip. She didn't know what Beast Boy had meant with 'Raven eating his hand', but she was sure it was some kind of slang used among Earthlings. It had to be. Surely Raven couldn't really have tried to...?

The green changeling finally spoke: "Fine. I'm gonna go talk to her now."

He turned away from Robin's angry stare, but the masked hero reached out after him. However, he didn't need to because instantly Beast Boy again turned towards him and hissed, anger and hurt (or was it simply tears?) shining in his eyes: "And when I get her out of that room, you'll see for yourself just how much _I'm_ _overreacting._"

Then the green changeling turned and stormed out of the living room leaving the three remaining Titans to stare at the closed door for several minutes.

Starfire was the first to speak after Beast Boy had left: "Robin," she tried calmly and reached out a soothing hand.

"It's okay, Star," he answered, his voice and shoulders shaking. His fists were clenched by his side and Starfire noticed how he clenched them even harder when she placed a hand on his shoulder. She pulled it back immediately, regretting ever reaching it out in the first place. "Beast Boy is just overreacting. He'll be fine."

Starfire stared incredulously at his back. At the moment she was more worried about her leader's reaction than anything. But she decided to play along, anything to calm Robin down.

"Beast Boy has lost many of those dear to him. I can understand why he is worried about our friend. Raven has had many problems in the past."

Robin inhaled deeply, his entire body shaking. This time Starfire dared to place a calming hand on his shoulder. She walked a little closer to her frustrated leader.

"And it has only been a week or so since he started smiling again after the crisis with the girl whom he thought was Terra."

The masked hero exhaled and closed his eyes. It was as if an unbelievable tranquillity was streaming from Starfire, through her hand and over in his body. Robin knew she didn't understand the responsibility he felt for all of them. He knew none of them did. But still, at times he was almost tricked into believing that she understood him fully.

He gave a small sigh and allowed himself to smile a little. "Thank you, Starfire."

* * *

"_Raven?"_

"Go away. I'm not coming out."

A light whoosh made it clear that the green changeling had entered her room. She snarled barely audible and clenched her jaw.

"Please?" Beast Boy's voice was small and hoarse. "It's movie night. I've found a horror movie especially for the occasion…"

_What occasion__, me getting attacked by some creepy beast, losing my powers, _and_ turning into a cannibalistic monster who takes pleasure in drinking your blood…? _Raven thought sarcastically and grimaced.

When the mage didn't answer Beast Boy stepped a little closer. He was used to Raven sometimes acting a little eccentric. Heck, everyone on his team behaved strange now and then, but this was just plain freaky. His dark teammate was sitting cross-legged on her bed with her back facing him. And oddly enough, her sole attention seemed to be turned towards the window. Beast Boy silently wondered if there was anything outside that scared her…

The shape-shifter abruptly shook his head, brushing off the foolish thoughts. There was nothing in this city that could scare Raven. She was daughter of "Trigon, incarnation of evil itself", as she so beautifully put it. No, she was probably just enjoying the night sky. And according to what Beast Boy could see from where he stood, the moon was exceptionally beautiful tonight.

Beast Boy sighed. He wanted so badly to talk about last morning, but he had no idea how to get the conversation started...

_("Um yeah, I have this feeling you tried to take a bite of me yesterday, __anything you want to talk about?")_

His mind was immediately filled with doubt. Should he say anything to Raven, and if so, what should he say? He told himself he was worried but maybe he was simply being an old hen?

But... Raven had been doing _something_ with his blood. And now she just sat, mute and motionless on her bed, only wasting energy on the window, and what was outside it. The snow-white skinned girl in front of him on the bed didn't even look like Raven anymore.

And he hadn't said anything to _Terra _that one time. He didn't tell his teammates this, but he kept wondering if he maybe had said something to the blonde geomancer, been a little more worried, things wouldn't have ended up the way they did with her.

The green boy stopped in his movements. Robin's words had made an impact on him, more than he wanted to admit. What if it was all in his head? Nothing had really happened yesterday, after all... Maybe it was simply Terra haunting him. The episode could have made him a little paranoid.

A stream of arguments rushed through his mind, making his head spin. He forced the flow of thoughts to stop, and took a deep breath. Raven didn't look his way for even a second. He needed to think this through, and approach Raven carefully. He knew how carefully he had to tread when it came to her.

And maybe he was exaggerating just a bit, when he said that Raven had wanted to _eat_ his hand. She had healed him after all...

* * *

As she heard the door behind her close, with a slight "whoosh", and Beast Boy leaving with a despondent "well, you know where to find us if you want to join," Raven closed her eyes and allowed herself to breathe again. All the time Beast Boy had been in her room, she had smelled something. A metallic, warm, sickening, yet oddly tranquilizing, and tempting smell. It was the smell of blood. Beast Boy's blood. 

She swallowed something hard. If he had dared walking just a few steps closer…

Instantly her right hand flew up and covered her mouth to stop herself from uttering a scream so loud it would break every window in Jump City. She closed her eyes harder and shook her head violently to get rid of the terrible mental images.

"Oh god. Beast Boy, no," she whispered on the edge of tears. She couldn't let that happen.

She looked at the window again. There was no longer any magic protection shielding her from the world outside, even though shehadn't removed it. It had simply faded during the day. The mage didn't want to think about why. She didn't really care anymore either. If that vampire wanted to take her away, _now_ would be one hell of a great time to do it.

Before the terrible images in her head became reality.

Before she...No! She couldn't let that happen, _wouldn't_ let that happen! She _would_ control herself, and she wouldn't need the vampire's help.

"Beast Boy! Wait! I want to- wait!"

Before her brain even had registered it, she jumped out of her bed to run after Beast Boy. She would tell him what had happened, and they would figure something out. Something. _Anything_. But the minute Raven got up from her bed, her legs collapsed under her like they were made of rubber. With a yelp she fell to the floor, and seconds later Beast Boy was standing in the door.

"Raven? Is anything okay?" the green teen looked worried down at her and hurried over to help her up.

Raven immediately tensed in his grip. The smell of warm blood, streaming in his veins was suffocating. Saliva gathered in her mouth. She was weak from hunger, not having eaten anything for three days. – Not anything that actually satiated her. And here, just a thin layer of green skin away from her, was everything she needed to restore her strength.

Raven's eyes widened. It only took one bite. One small bite and she would be able to...

"Yes, yes! I'm fine!" she gasped and pushed him away. It resulted in her landing on the floor with a _thump_.

"Oh Rae, I'm so sorry. Here, let me help you," he muttered in a frantic, apologizing tone and leaned down to help her to her feet. She immediately pushed him away again.

"I'm fine!" she coughed and shakily got to her feet. "Don't touch me, I'm fine, I'm fine!"

"_Oh god, get away from me!" _the mage screamed inside herself. Tears gathered in the corner of her eyes. She was so hungry. _So weak_. And the changeling was practically throwing himself at her feet.

What had she been thinking?! To talk to Beast Boy? It was the same as signing his death warrant. She couldn't even be in the same room as him without drooling at the smell of his blood.

Finally she stood tall but immediately reached out for her desk for some support. Beast Boy couldn't quite understand why she didn't just take the hand he offered her.

"I'm fine Beast Boy. Just leave. Please. Just leave," she gasped without looking at him.

"But Raven, are you sure you-" the shape-shifter reached out a hand in an attempt to calm her down.

"_Yes,"_ she hissed and shot him a furious gaze, stopping the boy in his tracks. "Just. GetOut"

Beast Boy stared horror-struck at her for a few seconds. Then he shook his head slowly in disbelief, without breaking their eye-contact, turned on his heel, and ran out of her room, his steps echoing as he continued down the hallway.

The minute he was out of sight, Raven collapsed on the floor, tears flowing freely from her eyes. She found it hard to tell whether it was from sadness, frustration, or overwhelming joy that she hadn't just slit her best friend's throat, that she was crying. Maybe it was a combination of all three.

Suddenly her eyes shot open with a sharp gasp. She had let completely go of her emotions. Shouting, yelling, _crying,_ andshe was even about to _run _like a madman after Beast Boy to tell him about anything that had happened to her the past few days... and yet, her powers had done _nothing_. Normally at least three windows would have been broken by now, but her powers hadn't caused any disaster, whatsoever.

The tears stopped falling, and instead a few drops of sweat rolled down the sorceress's spine. She _was_ really losing her powers after all.

Since the night where the vampire had attacked her, it had felt as if her mind had begun to slowly dry out. First her behaviour had changed, and now her magic was being dragged out of her.

Raven had a very bad feeling it would not stop there. Her mind would keep on deteriorating until every last bit of her humanity had withered away like small flowers under a desert sun. Terrible thoughts of murdering her best friend formed in her head, and grew like weed. And it would continue like this, Raven was sure, until everything that made her human, that made her Raven, was dead and gone.

The thought made something inside Raven shatter. Inside her, something was dropped to the floor, breaking, like fragile glass.

_Clink.

* * *

_

_-The Cranberries starts playing in the background-_

_"...they are fightiiiiing. With their tanks, and their bombs, and their bombs, and their guns, in your head, in your head; they are dyiiiiinnnggg... In your heeeeaaaad, in your heaaddd, zo-ombie..."_

I bet one half is wondering why the bleeping hell I insist on making Raven so OOC, and the other half is asking "When will this story actually get started?"

Well, the first question is a little hard to answer without giving too much away, but let's just say that the more broken and hurt Raven feels by this, the more she'll want to break out of it later in the story. And the other question? Well... two more (relatively short) chapters, and Raven is out of her room... 'kay that's enough spoilers for you.

By the way I'm sorry for taking so long about this chapter, but my life has been kinda chaotic lately... Yeah. blahblah. We all know that life sometimes suck, I don't wanna bore you. But I'll try to make next update a little quicker. Don't get your hopes up though... I'm pretty busy atm. I hope you find the chapters worth waiting for.

Looking forward to hear what you guys think. Any feedback, thoughts, critiques, or questions you might have are more than welcome!

Jeg har talt. xD Review, menschen!


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